These wondrous redheads fascinate me! Absent from large swaths of land across the Eastern US, they tend to be downright abundant in ideal habitat. I have observed red-headed woodpeckers in large meadows, along creeks, and saturating coastal, longleaf pine forests. Despite the variety of homesteads favored by these peculiar peckers, redheads seem to be absent from much of the region surrounding where the woodpecker in question resides. What’s the common denominator? The only factor I can pinpoint is that everywhere I’ve seen redheads boasts an abundance of dead, standing trees, entirely absent of bark. Carolina Beach State Park, NC.